While training inside the magma, Altaria's mastery over the power of fire became increasingly refined.
In just three days, its Flamethrower's power had caught up with that of Ice Beam.
After Flamethrower matched Ice Beam in strength, Altaria's progress from training in the magma began to slow down. At its current pace, it would be impossible for it to catch up with its accomplishments in the Dragon and Fairy Type.
However, after reaching this point, the volcano had already served its purpose well enough, leaving Terrance very satisfied.
After all, this was just an ordinary volcano. Terrance never expected it to have training effect on par with the Nightmare Island.
Mastering the power of fire had always been Altaria's weak point. Although Terrance had intentionally been having Altaria train in order to achieve the Flame of Life, time had always been too short, and they had never seen real results.
Now, with the help of the volcano's power, Altaria's fire mastery had finally caught up to the power of Ice Beam, making it Altaria's primary offensive technique aside from its Fairy and Dragon Type moves.
Of course, Terrance believed that once the power of fire and life energy were fully merged to form the Flame of Life, Altaria's fire mastery would surely surpass its mastery over the Dragon Type!
On the fourth day—
The temperature on the battlefield was no longer sufficient to temper the willpower of Kirlia, Ninetales, or even Terrance himself, so they began to move downward.
With the help of Carbink, a stone slab was inserted horizontally on the side wall beneath the Cinnabar Gym battlefield, about two or three meters below the arena. Standing on this rocky platform, they could feel the heat waves becoming even more intense.
According to Rotom Pokédex's estimates, this spot was already the absolute limit; not for Ninetales or Kirlia, but for Terrance himself.
Blaine had chosen the battlefield's location for a reason. Now, after moving two or three meters lower, Terrance felt an overwhelming pressure.
Given the limitations of a human body, if Terrance moved any closer to the magma, he absolutely wouldn't be able to take it. Even now, he needed to constantly replenish water and rely on Ninetales' occasional cooling just to maintain normal training.
However, under this pressure, training of both the martial art and meditation method produced miraculous results. His progress was remarkable.
Kirlia's meditation also showed astounding effects, rapidly refining its psychic power.
And as for Ninetales, having to fight against the even more intense waves of heat forced it to refine its control over ice energy to a meticulous degree.
...
...
"This should be the place…"
On Terrance's fifth day at Cinnabar Gym, he heard the first human voice inside the volcano that wasn't Blaine's.
From the staircase above that led to the battlefield, a boy in shorts carefully made his way down. Sensing the heat, he took every step cautiously, as if afraid of falling into the magma.
But his worries were clearly unnecessary. Once he reached the bottom, the Cinnabar Gym battlefield was fully revealed before him. Given the way Cinnabar Gym was set up, unless someone was deliberately seeking trouble, it was actually very difficult to fall into the magma.
And "deliberately seeking trouble" clearly referred to situations like Terrance's.
"So the Cinnabar Gym is built inside the volcano. No wonder I couldn't find it after searching for so long." The boy in shorts let out a long sigh of relief. Suddenly, he heard a commotion, and hurried forward, peeking down below the arena platform.
At that moment, he witnessed a shocking scene, a sight that would stay with him throughout his career as a Trainer.
What the boy in shorts saw, of course, was Terrance. To see a human training so close to the volcano's magma, and so many Pokémon moving in and out of the magma, left the boy in shorts completely dumbstruck.
"A human...?"
Feeling the rush of scorching heat, he quickly retreated, taking a deep breath and patting his chest, still somewhat in disbelief.
"No way, did I just imagine that?"
Looking again, he rubbed his eyes, wanting to see more clearly. At this moment, Terrance also became curious about the person above and looked up as well. As their gazes met, the boy in shorts froze for a moment. Seeing Terrance gave him the feeling of facing a fierce beast bathing in flames, filling him with an intense sense of pressure.
This was a side effect of Terrance's martial art and meditation method. Having just finished training, his aura had not completely dissipated.
"Looks like he's a challenger... Should I go up there? If I stay here and get caught up in their battle, I could get knocked off if a move hits this spot." After glancing up, Terrance withdrew his gaze. Forget it, there's no need to be extra cautious. Kirlia is here. Even if a move came crashing down on the stone slab, there's no real danger. At worst, Kirlia could just use Confusion to deflect it.
Not long after Terrance looked away, the lights in the Gym came on, and Blaine, the Gym Leader, finally appeared. The boy in shorts had originally thought the man below was the Gym Leader, but after Blaine showed up, he realized the real Gym Leader was someone else.
Under Blaine's arrangement, the Gym match began right away. However, the boy's mind remained fixated on the person below. Training inside a volcano—this kind of boldness left a deep impression on the young Trainer.
The Gym battle ended quickly. The boy in shorts had clearly come prepared. Blaine, who only used enough strength to test the challenger's capability, directly acknowledged his strength through the battle and awarded him the Gym Badge.
As he accepted the Badge, the boy in shorts swallowed hard and asked Blaine, "Mr. Gym Leader, may I ask, who is that person down there...?"
"Oh? You mean him? He's just a Trainer borrowing the volcano for his training." Blaine laughed heartily. "Interesting, isn't it?"
A few days after the boy in shorts left, another challenger arrived at the Gym... In the span of a month, quite a few people came to challenge Cinnabar Gym.
Time flew by. Clearly, Terrance had already been at Cinnabar Gym for a month.
During this month, he trained in the volcano every morning and afternoon, only leaving for Cinnabar Town at noon and night to take care of food and sleep. Of course, his gains during this month were very rewarding.
In this time, Cinnabar Gym welcomed a total of nine challengers. Some succeeded, some failed, but every one of them saw Terrance training beneath the suspended arena and was astonished.
The tenth challenger to arrive at Cinnabar Gym also saw Terrance. This time it was a pair of female Trainers, likely sisters. Before Blaine appeared, the two of them spotted Terrance sitting cross-legged below and were incredibly surprised.
But in the next moment, something even more astonishing happened—a sight the previous nine challengers hadn't witnessed, but which these two happened to see!
It was an Altaria. After emerging from the magma, bathed in flames, it let out a loud cry. Then, mid-air, a dazzling white light erupted suddenly!
Altaria was undergoing Mega Evolution!
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